Spoke to Elie…finally

He sounds so tired. So so tired. He’s good. He’s fine. Trying to save his battery by keeping the phone off as much as possible.

“How are you?” I asked him several times.

“Good,” he answered. “Fine,” and “busy.” All one word responses. This is a conversation I need more than him. I know that and yet couldn’t close the phone. I don’t know when I’ll speak to him again, never mind when I’ll see him.

I didn’t ask him about when he thought he might get home; he can’t possibly know.

I didn’t ask him if he was sleeping enough. “I’m fine,” was all he would say.

I told him about the 3-hour ceasefire from our side, “Really?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s to let the people in Gaza go buy food and stuff.”

“Ok,” he responded; clearly too tired to think of anything else.

On the scale of 1-10, this phone call won’t go down as a great conversation to remember, but I talked to him and that has to be enough, more than enough.

“Have you gotten my messages?” I asked.

There was noise in the background; I could hear talking and radio static.

“Ima?” I heard him say and so I repeated my question. Yes, he’s been getting my messages.

“Try to send me a message sometimes, just telling me you are OK. OK?” I asked and in a tired voice, such a tired voice, he agreed that he would.

I just saw your blog. Wow.I have a son and daughter (very young, babies) and I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a son in the army.Your son and all his fellow soldiers are in my prayers every day. As you posted, “Hinei lo yanum v’lo yishan, shomer Yisrael” – you’re in good company not getting to sleep!

I’m a retired American paratrooper. The motto of the US Army is “This We’ll Defend”. I think that can clearly be applied to the IDF. All my love and respect to your son and his comrades. Fight the good fight!!

We are a democratic country; so much so, we allow our enemies into our government and from the podium of our parliament, they have the freedom to call for policies that would destroy us.
Our current enemies, those who pose the most immediate threat lie to our north. This is Hizbollah land, where according to their leader Hassan Nasrallah, “We have discovered how to hit the Jews where they are the most vulnerable. The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win, because they love life and we love death.”
Our enemies lie to the northeast. This is Syria. My sons have spent many months on the Golan Heights, including some tense days waiting to see how the Syrians would react after Israel sent planes to destroy a building widely believed to be the beginnings of a nuclear reactor. My oldest son fought near Gaza to help stop the rockets from being fired against Israel.
Our enemies lie further to the east. This is Iran, led by fanatics who promise that they will do all they can to accomplish in a few minutes more than what Adolf Hitler accomplished in six years of war. The Iranian leadership has made it clear in words and actions that they are after a nuclear bomb and that their goal is to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Believe them.